My Book of Shorts
by GypsyTimeLady5147
Summary: A collection of shorts and one-shots that I'll be adding as they come to me. Kind of a way to give myself ideas in the future. Mostly romantic moments. Sit back and enjoy. Rated M just to be safe.


**A/N: First off, I don't own ME, just my stories and OCs.**

**So this is so I can take a break from my longer stories so I don't get caught with writer's block. I'll add to this once in a while, so this won't be updated on a regular basis. **

**Still, thanks to PalavenBlues, Tagermeister, and Chopped Bread for reading this and giving me pointers! Read their stories! They rock! **

**Anywho, Enjoy!**

ONE

"Why do you always wear your hair up?"

"Hmm . . .?" Lulled into a doze by the warmth of the sunset, it took me a moment to fully understand the question. Then it hit me. "My hair? Why do you want to know about that? Do you want some?" My neck burned as a stupid blush began creeping up from beneath the collar of my dress.

Jori's chuckle soothed my jumbled nerves. Unlike the high-pitched titter of other salarians, his was quiet and low with a touch of warmth like the campfire we'd made last night. He turned on the bench to face me, a long finger tapping the edge of the bench. Those large eyes drew my attention away from the lake in front of us. A smile gave his face life, but didn't hide the underlying seriousness. "Very funny, Mel. I mean it. I don't think I've ever seen it any other way. Why is that?"

I shrugged, the stupid blush working its way to my ears. "I don't know. Never really thought about it." My head felt very tight the more I thought about it. A gentle breeze tugged at a loose strand. It flew in front of my face like a wisp of fire. I ignored it. "I guess because it gets in the way when I work and . . . maybe I'm too lazy to get it cut?"

If he noticed my bad attempt at humor, Jori didn't react to it. He only leaned his head a little to the right. He didn't say anything for the longest time, instead just staring at me like he couldn't figure me out. Finally a corner of his mouth quirked upwards. "Well, you're not working now," came the challenge. "What's stopping you?"

"Uh . . .." I struggled to come up with a reason. Normally, I never ran out of clever remarks to toss out. Nothing came to mind. A void had moved into the space where my brain used to be. My mouth opened and closed like a fish as the blush burned my face in a rough patchwork job. Why couldn't I just answer him? The intensity of his stare seemed to tighten the fabric of my dress until I could barely breathe. "You . . . you really want me to release the monster? It's not a pretty sight, I'm warning you."

Jori's smile grew a fraction wider. "Let me be the judge of that." He didn't move, just sat there like he'd turned into a statue.

Clearing my throat, I reached up to the half-bun I'd wrestled the thing into, fingers brushing against the hair clip. "Oh, okay. Don't say I didn't warn you." Unclipping my hair felt as embarrassing as taking my shirt off with him watching, unnatural and revealing. It took only a few seconds for it to work its way free, tumbling down past my shoulders. The breeze caught it, tossing it into my face. "See?" I grumbled, spitting a strand out of my mouth.

For once I wished I could read salarian expressions as well as any other aliens'. It didn't help that their eyes took up most of their faces. What was he thinking about the mop that made up my hair? He didn't move, didn't say anything.

After a few more seconds, I lost the nerve to look at him. My heart pounded in my chest, demanding to burst its way out. I'd already put on a brave face by wearing such a nice dress. I didn't think I'd be able to take it if he didn't like my hair. Why would he like my hair anyway? As far as I could tell, humans were the only race with it. No one would think . . ..

The brush of Jori's fingers against my cheek jolted me out of the spiral of self-criticism. They weren't as hard as a turian's and didn't have scales like a drell's. Purely unique, gentle as they turned my head back towards him. I couldn't meet his eyes, though. How could I? The fingers of his other hand reached up, brushed some of my hair behind an ear.

"You . . . should wear it down more often." A tremor had worked its way into Jori's voice. One I hadn't heard before. Not even when he'd gotten into a fistfight with a co-worker. His voice had always been strong. Just like the rest of him. "It . . . suits you better, I think."

"You think?" That made me look at him with a raised eyebrow. "You can tell me the truth if it looks horrendous. I won't mind."

"No, no. It's not . . .." For a moment, Jori morphed into a hyper salarian, jerking back from me like he had whiplash. "That's not what I meant. Not even remotely. No," he added, calm once again returning. "Don't you ever call yourself horrendous again."

"But it's . . .."

Jori placed a finger on my lips. "Stop. Just . . . stop. While admittedly, I find many things about human culture confusing, I don't need to understand any of it to know that you're beautiful. Yes, I know what I said and I mean it."

I blinked at him, my breath catching in my chest. No way did he just say that. How can he . . .. I'm not . . .. How . . .. The whole park faded around me until it became a murmur. A spot of . . . hope . . . grew in my chest, but I didn't dare trust it. Not after having a crush on him for so long. I gaped at him like a fish. No, he had to be making a mistake. "Jori . . . I . . .."

Whatever I had planned on saying vanished in the span of a few seconds. Though we'd been sitting pretty close to begin with, Jori pulled me even closer. Before I could say anything, he took a breath, as if steeling himself. Then he carefully pulled my head forward . . . and kissed me.

Jori kissed me.

I'd never been kissed before, by anyone. And yet the salarian who I thought would never see me as more than his assistant had made the first move. This had to be a dream. It couldn't be real. It just . . ..

I couldn't fight the tidal wave of head-spinning emotion any longer. Even if it turned out to be my imagination. My lips awkwardly caressed his, unfamiliar with the whole thing, let alone how to kiss a salarian. I raised my hand to his head. The skin felt so much like human skin. A little close to leather, but not quite. Jori sighed, losing so much tension that he nearly sagged in relief.

We didn't separate until we needed air. Or I needed air, at least. My head spun so much that I thought I'd faint if I moved too fast. I slowly opened my eyes, afraid that, if I did, I'd prove that this would end up just another figment of my imagination. No, it was real; Jori stared at me with such a smile on his face, I couldn't help but give him a smile of my own.

Blinding white light erupted around us, bringing the world back in focus. Screams . . . people were screaming. The light switched to red and the ground trembled as an unearthly mechanical bellow filled the air.

We were shaken apart.

Then darkness fell.


End file.
